6:00am August 17, 2020
Seneca Therapeutics Board of Directors Appoints James M. Hussey as Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Company. Hussey is a Veteran CEO with more than 30 years in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry
Philadelphia, PA— August 17, 2020 — The Board of Directors of Seneca Therapeutics announced today theappointmentofJamesM.HusseyasChiefExecutiveOfficerandmemberoftheBoardofDirectors. Jimhas been a CEO or President for nearly 20 years and a member of the C-Suite at several different successful biotech/pharmaceutical companies. His appointment was effective August 5, 2020.
“We are very pleased to have a veteran CEO from the biotech/pharmaceutical industry like Jim join our team” said Dr. Paul Hallenbeck, President and Founder of Seneca Therapeutics. “We will be working together to advance SVV-001 into clinical trials later in 2021”.
“I am excited about joining the Seneca Therapeutics team to advance SVV-001 into a clinical trial next year,” said James M Hussey, CEO of Seneca Therapeutics. “I am convinced that SVV-001 is the best-in-class oncolytic virus. SVV-001 represents a real opportunity to address the solid tumor market with immuno- oncology products”.
Jim joins the Seneca Therapeutics team at an exciting time for the company. Seneca recently received FDA guidance for restarting the SVV-001 (“Seneca Valley Virus- 001”) IND. The company plans on entering a PhaseIIclinicalstudyincombinationwithaPDL-1agentinneuroendocrinetumorslaterin2021. Thecompany has also recently secured important intellectual property rights for TEM8 from Memorial Sloane Kettering. TEM8 is a novel tumor marker important in many solid tumors. SVV-001 selectively binds to the TEM8 receptor which expresses on many solid tumor cells but is not expressed on normal human cells. This license agreement will allow Seneca to prescreen patients for TEM8 which may predict the many cancer patients will most likely respondfavorablytoimmunotherapywithSVV-001incombinationwithacheckpointinhibitor. Somany
recent developments in the immunotherapeutic field has shined the spotlight on this best-in-class oncolytic virus, SVV-001.
About Seneca Therapeutics
Seneca Therapeutics was found by Dr. Paul Hallenbeck to develop the Seneca Valley Virus (“SVV-001”), a best in class oncolytic virus. SVV-001 is already in Phase I/II and has a clinical safety record in humans. SVV-001 binds to the TEM8 receptor which is common in many solid tumors like breast cancer, lung cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. SVV-001 is also being considered as a viral vector for gene therapy targeting the TEM8 receptor in solid tumors.